The invention provides methods and apparatus for securing personalized or sensitive information appearing in digital images. Digital images containing information to be secured is processed and divided into a plurality of image cells. At least one image cell from the plurality of image cells is selected and redacted or altered to render the information to be secured with the selected image cells indecipherable. The invention also provides methods and apparatus for transmitting or streaming unredacted image cells alone or in combination with redacted image cells for secured viewing on a user browser or computer.

An image forming apparatus, guide providing method thereof, cloud server and error analyzing method thereof are provided. The image forming apparatus may include a scanner configured to scan a script and generate a scan image, a communicator configured to communicate with a cloud server, a display configured display a screen, and a processor configured to control the communicator to transmit the generated scan image to a cloud server, and in response to receiving an error solution guide of the scan image from the cloud server, control the display to display the received error solution guide.

An information processing apparatus is communicably connected to an information management system. The apparatus includes circuitry configured to generate intermediate data of a document in response to receiving a request for outputting the document; query the information management system for confidential information relevant to the document; delete the confidential information contained in the intermediate data, the confidential information being determined based on a result of the query from the information management system; and issue an output request for performing output processing based on the intermediate data having the confidential information deleted.

An image reading apparatus and a control method thereof are provided. The image reading apparatus includes a communication device configured to perform communication in a preset communication manner, a scanner configured to generate a scan image by scanning a manuscript, and at least one processor configured to control the communication device to transmit use information of the manuscript to an address corresponding to authorship information in response to a preset security pattern including the authorship information being detected in the generated scan image.

An image forming apparatus includes a character distinguishing unit, a character string extraction unit, a character specifying unit, a determination unit, an overwrite image data generation unit, and a control unit. The overwrite image data generation unit generates, if it is determined by the determination unit that there is a plurality of matches, overwrite image data that has been overwritten such that a character specified by the character specifying unit is indistinguishable as a character. The control unit performs control using the overwrite image data generated by the overwrite image data generation unit so as to cause a printing unit to perform printing on a printed material set in a printed material setting unit.

A printed material processing device includes: a feature information extracting unit configured to compare read printed-material image information obtained by reading a printed material, and extract a portion equivalent to a difference between the two sets of information as feature information; an image generating unit configured to generate an image of a mark to be additionally printed near a location of the feature information, set first information indicating a positional relationship between the mark and the feature information, set second information indicating a method of extracting the feature information and a feature quantity to be extracted from the feature information, and generate an image of code information to be additionally printed in a position on the printed material, the code information including the first information and the second information; and an image forming unit configured to additionally print the mark and the code information.